1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the recovery of certain metals from iron and sulfur-containing ores, and more particularly, though not by way of limitation, to the recovery of copper from chalcopyrite.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Copper is currently most often recovered from chalcopyrite and other sulfur-containing ores by pyrometallurgy techniques, such as smelting. This method is also used for the recovery of other metals from some sulfur-containing ores. Such procedure results in undesirable air pollution from the sulfur dioxide produced in the process. In order to rectify this problem, various hydrometallurgical methods have been proposed, including that described by Haver and Wong in 1971 in which chalcopyrite is treated with aqueous ferric chloride to solubilize copper salts from which the copper is subsequently recovered by either electrochemical or cementation methods. Cupric chloride and hydrochloric acid have also been proposed as leaching reagents. In general, the hydrometallurgical methods as previously proposed have been long and cumbersome, and generally do not use a closed loop process in which all the reactants employed, including that utilized for solubilization of the metal values from the ore, are regenerated and recycled in the course of the process.